When she was about to fall apart, Dare rubbed her back. He even pulled her into a sideways hug a few times.
When she’d finished and we started composing it into a song, Dare seemed to understand she’d made it through the worst of her emotions, and he stood to leave even though Silver and I were both in tears.
“You want more shots, or coffee?” he asked as he reached the door.
She breathed out, considered the question a second. “The shots are tempting, but coffee, I think.”
“I could use a few hamburgers,” I told him with my own tearful smile.
We had burgers, chips, and coffee to fuel us, and when we finished two hours later, we had a song. I didn’t know if it was a good song, but I knew it was important to Silver.
When we came out of the kids’ room, Dozer was passed out on a pool table with a naked girl who still had her high heels on, Slick was crashed on the sofa with a mostly naked girl asleep on him, and Bubbles was in a recliner with someone giving him a blowjob. Lots of women’s clothing was scattered around, with most of the women who’d been in the garments presumably in a biker’s room, naked.
Silver looked around and chuckled. “Damn. These guys know how to party.”
Dare and Bobcat were playing a video game, and they paused it as we approached them.
“You’ve been crying,” Dare said as he walked to us and took us both into his arms. He kissed my forehead and the top of Silver’s head. “What do ya’ll need?”
I hadn’t seen Knife when we stepped out, but he peered over the back of one of the sofas and said, “I can take Silver to Will’s if she needs a ride.”
Silver didn’t need to be alone, and I pulled her closer to me as I looked to Dare and hoped he’d be okay with this. “Can we take Silver to our house? Or maybe we can stay in my room at Will’s tonight?”
He didn’t miss a beat before saying, “Let’s grab some stuff from my room, and we’ll figure out where we’re going on the way.”
* * *
Ghost
If Silver had felt more male than female on that night, I’m pretty sure my wolf wouldn’t have been okay with it, but the three of us ended up sleeping in one bed — with Hailey in the middle.
I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I smelled and sensed a vulnerability I wasn’t used to getting from Silver, and I wasn’t comfortable sending her to bed alone either.
I awoke before them and went downstairs to the weight room. Will was already in the middle of his own workout, and he asked how the night had gone.
“I’m not sure what precipitated it, but Hailey and Silver wrote a song when they got back to the clubhouse, and there were lots of tears. Neither Hailey or I wanted to send Silver to bed alone, so she slept with us. Just sleeping, no hanky-panky — but Silver seemed wounded last night.”
“I hope writing the song was cathartic. We all have demons, but I think Silver may have more than the rest of us.” He sat up from the bench press machine. “Is the song good?”
“I haven’t heard it.” I grabbed two forty-pound weights and hung upside down from a bar to do crunches. “If tears make a song good, it should be a hit.”
“Our publicist wants us to leak a picture of you, me, and Hailey in a compromising position.”
I did another fifteen crunches before I came off the bar, put the weights down, and calmly asked, “And what did you tell her?”
He was doing curls now, and he didn’t slow as he said, “I told her I didn’t think you’d go for it, but I’d talk to you.”
“Does Hailey know?”
“No. I asked you first.”
“Why us? Why not you, Silver, and a model looking to make a name for his or herself?”
“Because the stage has already been set with the picture of me hugging you. Lots of rumors out there about us, so we’d be feeding them.”
I shook my head. “I’m assuming you wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important. Is she looking for a way to boost ticket sales? Are they not doing as expected?”
He switched to the other arm. “I’ll pay you and Hailey ten grand to take the pictures, and another fifty grand if you’ll both sign off on one of them to be leaked. You’ll have the final say in whether one’s leaked or not.”
“Doesn’t feel right, but I’ll need to talk to Hailey before I say no.”
I balanced into a handstand and did a few dozen pushups before landing back on my feet.
“How the hell do you do that?” Will asked.
“Start with your feet against the wall. Works your whole body to keep your balance, but takes a while to get the hang of it. Have you ever been in a fight?”
He shrugged. “I make music. I’ve had to fight a few times and managed to hold my own, but there’s a reason I hire the best security.”
“Hang a heavy bag down here and I’ll give you some exercises with it. Wouldn’t hurt for all of you to have some self-defense training.”
We worked out for another hour without talking, and I went up to shower and change while Will was still doing cardio. I can’t work out like I want with a human around, but I’d needed to get some energy out.
Silver and Hailey were still sleeping, but Hailey moved and snuggled into Silver when I stepped into the room. Silver must not have felt like me, because Hailey opened her eyes and took a few seconds to remember why she was in bed with her bandmate.
“You worked out?” she asked, her voice soft.
I nodded. “Will’s still down there. We have a few hours until we have to meet Randall, and then I’ll have to teach a class and work the rest of the day.”
“Is there coffee? Silver’s going to need it.”
Animal poked his head in the door — hair wild and eyeliner down one cheek — and took in the two girls in bed with me standing over them, sweaty after working out. “I started the coffee. Last night go okay?”
“I don’t want her waking alone,” Hailey told Animal. “Can you crawl in bed with her while I get in the shower with Dare?”
“I’m awake,” Silver grumbled as she put a pillow over her eyes. “And yes, coffee would be good. Fuck, how much did I drink last night?”
We spent a few minutes getting coffee and aspirin for Silver, and then I finally had my Hailey naked in the shower.
I told her Will’s request, and she got pissed on my behalf. “You don’t drink anyone but me, and you don’t have sex — even pretend sex — with anyone but me.”
“Even if it sells more tickets?”
She sighed and leaned into me, then squealed as shampoo went into her eye. I stood back and smiled as she rinsed her eye and cussed, and then opened my arms for her when she came back into them.
“I’d lost my music when you found me. You gave me my life back. I can make music again, and you of all people know what that means to me! Granted, there’ve been some complications along the way — but you found me turning tricks and now I’m about to go on tour with Byran fucking Wilson.” She kissed my chest. “You agreed right away to let Silver sleep with us last night. You knew she didn’t need to be alone and you didn’t bitch about it even once. Fuck, Dare. Yes, you’re more important than ticket sales! It’s one thing for the gossip rags to take an innocent photo and feed the rumor mills, but we aren’t going to do anything to encourage them!”
* * *
We had breakfast with the band, and Hailey and Silver informed us they weren’t talking about girls’ night out so we could just stop asking questions. After breakfast, Silver sang the song they’d written, with both of them playing guitar and Hailey singing backup.
The emotions coming off Silver made my heart hurt, at first, but by the time she finished the song she seemed better. Will was right — the song was cathartic for her. Whatever had happened, she was putting closure on it by writing and singing about it.
“I’m not ready for it to go public,” Silver told Will. “It’s personal. I may need to change some of the words before I can share it — or I may never be ready to let anyone b
ut ya’ll hear it.”
Will didn’t argue, but merely said he’d like to work it up so they all knew it, and told her she’d let them know when she was ready to share it with the world.
“Oh!” Will said with the smile of an eight year old on Christmas morning. “Did I tell you we’ll have the amusement park to ourselves the night before the concert in Cincinnati? We’re going to do some promo and contests, with a hundred people winning a ticket to get in with us and our people. The park’ll close to the public at ten, and we’ll have it until four in the morning.” He grinned. “No lines! We’ll be able to just walk up to a ride and get on.”
Hailey and I hung out for a few hours, but we had to meet Randall at our new property down the road from Gonzo and Constance. We were due to break ground on our new house next week, and Randall wanted to go over some final details.
I’d had to put my foot down about us needing a house designed for a vampire. I’d said no more cages, but she was stuck in the bedroom and bathroom during the day. She’d finally agreed, but had insisted we didn’t need a huge mansion.
Chapter 40
Ghost
Four and a half months of tour dates, and I was ready to take Hailey home to our new house and do absolutely nothing for a week. Well, we’d have sex and eat and sleep… but nothing else.
The tour hadn’t been nonstop. We’d had a few five-day breaks, and had even made it home to work with the movers so everything at our new house was as we wanted it — but the road schedule had been grueling.
It was worth it, though. They’d been on stage accepting awards at various red-carpet events several times already, and they had seven singles in the top one-hundred at the same time — four of which had made it all the way to number one. Hailey had written three of the four, and she was lead singer on one. I was so fucking proud of her.
I’d managed to hold firm on our once-a-month power exchange, and once we returned home we’d be doing it every other Tuesday. Our formal scenes drew us closer, helped build trust, and Hailey fell into submission a little faster with every session.
I’d arranged for Patrick — one of the extra security people Aaron Drake had brought in for Mythic Beast’s bigger concerts — to stand in the stage wings with me tonight because I wanted to soak in the performance instead of being on guard. I’ve seen the show more times than I can count, but I’ve never been able to just focus on the band because I’m always scanning the crowd and the people backstage to make sure no one’s a threat.
Plus, Hailey didn’t know it, but I’d be playing a part in tonight’s show.
The energy of this final concert was off-the-charts hot. Hailey and Silver were on fire as they played their guitars, Will was all over the fucking stage as he belted out the lyrics, and Animal is always their foundation, keeping them on course.
Will and the other band members had worked with me on when to make my appearance, so I stepped onto the stage as Hailey finished the last note of her vocal solo. She looked to me in surprise, and then turned to Will as he told the audience, “He’s usually a Ghost, trying to stay out of the limelight, but he has something important to say tonight.”
Silver strummed a few notes of his guitar as I walked to Hailey and Will handed me a microphone.
Hailey looked to the audience, back to me, glanced at Will and Silver, and then met my gaze. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure the whole world knows you’re mine.” I moved the mic away, took a breath, let it out, and pulled the mic back to my mouth. “I know every demon you’ve fought, and I’ve helped you battle some of ’em. You’ve returned the favor, and sometimes I don’t know where I end and where you start.” I reached into my pocket, pulled the ring out, and held it so she could see it. “Will you marry me, Shortstuff? Will you wear my ring?”
Her eyes watered and she glared at me for making her get emotional in front of people, but smiled as she nodded and held her hand up. I put the ring on, the crowd went wild, and I held her in my arms.
“How fucking romantic was that?” Silver asked as he walked to us. Animal left his drums, Will stepped to us, and before long we were in a five person hug.
“Our Ghost has been there for all of us, at one time or another,” Silver told the audience as he backed away. “He and Suli are perfect together, but the rest of us are lucky he’s around.”
I handed the mic back to Will, and kissed Hailey and told her I loved her, but she walked me off the stage, pulled her headset off her head, and let me give her my kind of kiss.
“I can’t believe you did that, but I love you so much.” She looked at her ring, back to me. “Still can’t believe you came onstage, or that ya’ll pulled this off without me suspecting anything!”
While Hailey was in the wings with me, Silver told the audience he’d fallen apart and written a song one night, and Suli and I had kept her from having a total meltdown. “They supported me. They held me. They let me cry. Without them, I’d have never found the strength to get all the feelings and emotions out.” Silver looked at Suli as she walked back on stage, and then spoke to the audience again. “We’re going to debut it tonight. This is the first time I’ve taken the lead, so please be kind.”
Epilogue
Hailey
The bottom floor of our new house is half-bedroom and half-playroom, with a huge-assed bathroom in between. The middle floor holds our kitchen and a small eating nook, along with a large den with a huge television, but the acoustics had been worked so it also doubles as a music room for me during the day. The top floor is the only one above ground. It’s all windows, and one huge room. It holds a grand piano, four sofas, and more than a dozen other chairs in various little conversational arrangements. I play and compose music here at night, and we frequently entertain our friends. I never imagined I’d have so many friends.
With a bathroom on each floor, I thought the house extravagant when we drew up the plans, but I also have to admit it’s a rather modest home, considering it has to meet the requirements of a vampire. It’s plenty big enough for our needs, but about half the square footage of Gen and Duke’s home. Since only a third of ours is above ground, it looks downright tiny from the road when compared with the other houses on our street — which is fine with me.
Of course, the glass is bulletproof, and we have every security feature possible. Would you expect any less from Dare?
Also, Dare built a garage on the edge of our property, complete with a spot for five bikes and five cars — and a fucking huge man-cave upstairs. We only have two cars, but he wanted a big garage.
I get two birthdays a year now, and today marks three years since Dare played music to the crazed vampire and made her remember she was more than the hunger.
So much has changed since Dare came back into my life — I’ve literally gone from whore to rock star. I’ve argued my new birthday should be the day I could play music again, but he makes a compelling case for the grief he felt while waiting to see if I’d rise, and then whether I’d ever find my way out of the bloodlust.
Still, Dare truly gave me my life back when he arranged for Bran’s blood to heal my hand. On that day this year, I gave him a fully restored 1946 Harley Davidson Knucklehead. I’ll never be able to repay him for returning my music to me, but I’ll always show him how much I love him — not just with shit I can buy him, but by taking care of him as best I can.
Usually, I can see what’s going on upstairs through the cameras, but he’d turned them off so I couldn’t see whatever preparation they were doing for my party tonight. I occasionally heard some of the women talking, but then Dare would remind them to keep their voices down, and I wouldn’t hear anything important again for a while.
We’d spent the day with Dare’s family yesterday, since they couldn’t come today. As far as I knew, they were the only people we’d invited who couldn’t make it.
When the sun finally went down, I came upstairs to a wonderland: little twinkly lights all over the place, a huge fucking cake i
n the shape of a guitar, my favorite classical pieces playing throughout the night, my band family, my MC family, and my Cherokee family — which now consists of my mom’s side of the family as well as much of Viper’s family. Bran was there, and Aaron Drake with his wife Sophia, Bethany and her harem, Cassie and her men, Sam and Ethan Levi. How had I managed to become close to so many people?
And what did Dare buy me? There was no gift to open, because he showed me pictures of it with a slideshow — one hundred acres of land adjacent to the Nantahala National Forest, with two waterfalls on the property. He’d had an underground bunker put in so I could get out of the sun, but he knew I’d prefer to be under the stars at night when I was in the mountains.
“We leave when the party’s over,” he told me when I hugged him because I didn’t know what to say. “You’ll be there tomorrow.”
My party wasn’t a big drunken affair. It was my closest friends hanging out with me, enjoying good food and enough alcohol to make dancing fun. Angelica and Harmony had set up a huge s’mores bar by the bonfire outside, with ingredients I’d have never thought to put on a s’more. I didn’t think the salted caramel and bacon one would work, but it was divine. Oh, and the one with peanut butter cups instead of plain chocolate? Out of this world.
When I’d hugged my last guest goodbye and thanked them for coming, Dare held me from behind as we watched them drive away. “I have someone coming to clean everything up tomorrow. I’m packed, and I know it won’t take you long to throw some things in a duffel. Your property’s a little over two hours away with traffic, but we should make better time at night on the bike.”
“Our property,” I corrected him as I turned in his arms. “I know Bran keeps warning us vampire marriages don’t last forever, and we need to plan for our end date by knowing who owns which assets as they’re purchased, but he keeps forgetting that wolf marriages do last forever when the wolves are mated. We don’t need to keep track of who gets what as we go along. It’s you and me forever.”
Ghost: The Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, Book 8 Page 28